Christmas Ball
by Princess Story Writer
Summary: PG 13 for later chapters. Hogwarts starts late and has a Christmas Ball. Draco and Hermione have sudden feelings for each other, which is strange. *Story takes place even after the ball.**Chapter 2 Up!*
1. Christmas ball preperations

The Christmas Ball   
  
Disclaimer doesn't own  
  
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Chapter 1-Planning   
  
Hermione's P.O.V.  
  
It was starting our sixth year. Though, we started it during Christmas. Slight difficulties. I'll explain later. Me, Harry and Ron were still great friends. "I've got to go. I have to change into my robes." I told them, putting my prefect badge on top of my folded robes. I picked up the pile and opened the door, running into a hard chest. "Granger. Prefect meeting. Professor McGonagall called me to get you." The boy said. I looked up, it was Draco with a serious and angry look on his face. I noticed that he wasn't in his robes either. He had tried to look like a muggle, and succeeded. A Malfoy! Succeeding! Ha!  
  
But I followed him out, leaving my clothes with them, until I came back from the meeting. He was walking so fast that when he turned to open the door I had walked past him, tripping. I was about to hit the floor, until I felt a hand grip my wrist. My head was near the ground, but not on it. I looked up and saw Draco there, still holding my wrist. But now he grabbed my other wrist and pulled me up. "Come on." He said in a kind, yet also annoyed way. I wondered why he helped me, why he didn't just let me fall, but who cares? Less pain.   
  
He pushed me into the compartment and took the seat across from me. I opened my mouth to speak but then the other prefects came in with the professors. "Now, as you all know, we had to start school on Christmas and leave after half the summer is over, so, we need you to come up with plans. For Christmas." Professor Dumbledore said. But then...the perfect idea hit my mind. "How about a Christmas Ball?" I asked right away. Draco quickly glanced at me nervous. 'Pansy is going to kill me by dancing if you do that!' he mouthed to me.  
  
'Too bad.' I mouthed back and looked back at Dumbledore. "Well, great idea! We'll stick with that, but you have to come up with banner, bewitched ceilings, food, music and much more." He replied. The hufflepuff prefect smiled. "Great. We can do that professor." She said. "Oh. On the 4th floor 7th door to your left is the prefect common room. The password is 'Ohlah Yule.'" He told us. "Now change into your robes. We'll be arriving in fifteen minutes." He told us. The four of us nodded, and I went back to get my robes from my compartment.  
  
I changed and returned to the compartment, telling them about the ball for Christmas. And after about 13 minutes, we pulled into Hogwarts.   
  
When we were heading out, I was about to tell them what we were going to decide on, but I felt someone tap my shoulder. "Are you mad? Are you actually going to tell Potter and Weasley all about the Christmas Ball?" Draco asked me quietly. "Why not? They're my friends and--" "Would Dumbledore hire you for not caring about his rules and telling your friends about them?" Draco asked me. I looked down at the floor, he was actually right for once. I was defeated. "Ok...I won't tell them anymore IF..." I started. He looked at me with a serious look.  
  
"IF...you don't tell Dumbledore what I've done and you be nice to ahem...Potter and Weasley." I continued. I saw Draco think.  
  
Draco's P.O.V.  
  
I thought for a moment, let's see, she won't tell them about the ball and woah....what's this feeling in my stoach. Do I feel panic? Anyway..."You've got yourself a deal." I said and shook her hand. I ran off to follow the crowd of students into the castle. I sat at my proper table, luckily the feeling in my stomach had gone away when I left Hermion--Granger!   
  
After the huge feast, I went to the common room. "Let's see...fourth floor...seventh door to the left." I said to myself as I made my way there. "What was the password? Oh man..." I leaned against the wall near the portrait, waiting for another prefect to come by. Luckily, in a matter of minutes, Granger came. "Did you forget the password?" She asked, worriedly.  
  
"Yes. Why? D-don't you know it?" I asked. "No! I wasn't listening to Dumbledore. My thoughts were of--someone..." She said. "If you don't know the password, get out!" The lady in the portrait yelled. I saw Hermione smirk. "I assume that Professor Dumbledore has told you all the prefect's names, right?" She asked. The lady nodded. "Well, this is Draco Malfoy and I'm Hermione Granger." She said. The portrait swung open and we gasped at how beautiful the prefect common room was.  
  
Snap out of it! You're not supposed to be happy! And--Oh, there's that feeling. I got the queasy feeling in my stomach again and I looked at Granger who was beside me, she was staring at me, smiling wildly. "Wh-what?" I asked. "Aren't you excited as I am about this common room?" She asked happily. "Aren't you supposed to hate me?" I asked. She laughed, but I put a serious look on my face. "Ok, I know I USED to...hate you, but...I mean, we're prefects, right? To be prefects we can't act childishly." She told me.  
  
"A-are you saying that you want us to be..." I looked down at the ground and then back at her. "friends?" I finished. "Well, yeah. As prefects. We don't have to hang in classes and everything, just you know...as prefects." She said and smiled at me. A warm smile at that. I felt the feeling in my stoamach, worse than before. I let out a small, quick, quiet groan, but she was still beside me, so she heard. "Draco, you alright?" She asked me. The feeling got harder. I panted and looked at some of the doors. Finally, I saw one with the initials 'D.M.' on it and I ran inside and shut the door. I flopped onto my bed and I felt better.  
  
Why does that always happen? Whenever I'm beside her that feeling comes? And when I go away from her it disappears? I heard someone knock on the door, but I knew that someone was Hermione. Oh, I had to get used to saying her first name. "Don't come in!" I yelled. "Why?" She yelled back. The feeling in my stomach came weakly as she spoke. **Don't you know what love is??** Came my thoughts, but I hadn't thought that.  
  
**Who is this?** I asked, thinking. **I'm your brain, Draco. Don't you know WHY you're body acts like that when you're near her?** I looked around, confused. **No.** I thought, whcih meant I was speaking to my brain. **You have a crush on her!! Geez, how thick can you get! That is why the queasy feeling is there, you want her, you want to kiss her! You want to take her to the dance!!** My brain yelled.  
  
**No I don't, that's my body but not me, I don't go making out with mudbloods.** I thought. **Oh, but it is! YOU want her, not us, you just didn't know. You had never experienced love before, so you couldn't tell!** My brain said. It was right, I had never loved Pansy, I had hated her, but she had loved me. Which was sick, by the way? I heard a knock on my door. "Come on Draco, come plan with us! We're deciding on things for the ball!" I heard Michael yell, the Ravenclaw prefect.   
  
I ran out and sat on a couch, my legs spread wide across it. "Ok, so we've got a Christmas Ball. Formal, formal and casual, or casual?" "Formal and casual." I said. They all looked at me. I sat into a normal postition. "Ok, the girls can like, wear shirts and a skirt or something, but nothing too fancy. The guys can dress with a sweatshirt or something, with dress pants." I explained. I wore it once, and it actually suited me. They all understood now and wrote it down.  
  
"Now, what songs?" Hermione asked. They all looked at me. "Hey, what? I don't listen to music!" I said. They pointed to the CD on the table which I had listened to on a walkman. "Ok...I listen to rap." I said. The turned the cd around and on the other side said 'Christmas Carols'. "Ok! I owned that cd since I was four. I burned over the songs and they kind of mixed." I said.  
  
They put it in the stero in the common room and played it. J-Jingle Bells. *scratch* They quickly stopped it. "Draco's CD." Hermione said while writing it down. "Hey, how about a soloist to sing Silent Night?" Maelle suggested, the Hufflepuff prefect. "Yeah..." We all agreed. "So, who?" I asked and again they looked at me. "Hey, you guys have to do something too!" I said, shocked. "We've heard you sing, Draco. The concert that the whole school held for muggle studies, remember?" Hermione told me and I couldn't help but blush a little, but I kept my serious face.  
  
"No way am I singing for a ball." I said. "But then what are you going to do, Draco? You told me that Pansy would kill you by dancing, so why don't you just sing?" Hermione suggested again. "Nuh-uh. No way." I said. "Too late." Hermione said and scribbled my name on the scroll. "Give me that!" I said and jumped onto Hermione. I grabbed the quill and scratched my name out, but to my surprise, the scribble disappeared and my name stayed. I let out a low growl while the three prefects laughed. "That's what i love about magical scrolls..." Hermione said, trying to sound innocent.  
  
"I am not singning. No matter what you or Dumbledore say, I'm not doing it." I said stubbornly. "Come on, Draco! We need this!" Hermione pleaded. "Then go get Saint Potter to do it." I said. The three shuddered. "Haven't you heard Harry sing?" Hermione asked. "Come to think of it...yes.." I said, he was horrible at singing. "Come on, Draco!" Maelle pleaded. "Why don't you or-or Hermione do it?" I asked. They both then looked at Hermione. "No, no, no, no." She said. Michael pointed his wand at the scroll and it changed to 'Hermione Granger.'  
  
She giggled and fell on me, the queasy feeling in my stomach came again. I groaned and let her drop onto the floor. It was killing me. **You're just nervous Draco! You're nervous that if you be with her you're father's going to kill you.** My brain said. **Yes and no.** I replied to it. She looked at me, concerned. The queasy feeling got louder and I ran to my room again. I slammed the door and panted hard, pictures of Hermione came into my head. "No, no!" I yelled.  
  
Hermione's P.O.V.  
  
He let me fall and ran to his room. When he went in there, from his room we heard him yelling in agony. "No, No!" "Draco!" I yelled, concerened. The three of us heard groaning even louder and heard more cries of agony. Michael was going to go in there, but the door was locked.   
  
I ran up to the door and knocked as hard as I could. I was actually worried about him. "Draco!!" I yelled. A louder groan was heard. "No!!! Go away!!!" I heard him yell.   
  
Draco's P.O.V.   
  
Why was so much pain coming to me? Sure, a normal crush should just be little pains, but this was no little pain, pictures of Hermione flew through my head and as she yelled, concerned, my stomach pain grew. **Draco! Calm down! You're hallucinating!** My brain yelled. I couldn't. picture of Hermione just soared through, my stomach pain grew more painful. "Draco!!! What is going on in there?!" I heard Maelle yell. My stomach pain instantly went away and the pictures of Hermione stopped. I felt normal again.  
  
**Than Merlin that someone else was concerned but Hermione.** My brain said. I plopped onto bed and pointed to my lock with my wand. "Alohamora." I said lazily. The door swung open and they burst into the room, but before Hermione could take another step into my room, I held out my hand as a stop signal. "Not Hermione. Go away, Hermione." I said, panting. I looked at her and her face looked hurt. She backed out of the room and she closed the door. I could tell that she was quietly sobbing. "Why did you do that?" Maelle asked.  
  
"Which? Run into my room and scream or shoo Hermione away?" I asked. "Uh..both!" Maelle said seriously. "Ok, can I confess to you two something that you PROMISE you won't tell anybody?" I asked them, giving them a glare. They nodded. "Ok, I see random pictures of Hermione come to my head when I'm near her or she touches me. Then, I get a queasy feeling in my stomach, but it grows more painful as I see her and her face. I have to get away from her for it to stop and then she starts yelling at me, concerned. My pain starts up again and it gets worse. That's why I can't have her in here." I told them.  
  
"Have you got a crush on her?" Michael asked. "I don't know. That's what my brain says, but why would my feeling feel so...bad?" I asked. "Maybe it's a crush, but...I don't know...it's just..strange." Maelle said. "Maybe you should see Madam Pomfrey." Micheal suggested. "NO!!" I yelled. "What's going on in there?" I heard Hermione said, a hint of sadness in her voice. The pain was small, but it started up again, I had to try and hide my pain, but it failed, I stiffened up, biting my lower lip. "Just a few more minutes, Mione!!" Maelle said.   
  
"Wait!" I said to them. It was voodoo. I knew it. "Voodoo!" I said. "Voodoo?" They both asked at the same time. "Dark Arts thing. Anyway, my father's doing it. He hates it when I'm near a mudbl--muggle-born and he has like, a map of me and the school, like the maurader's map, but different. Anyway, if he sees me near a muggle-born or talking to one, he makes the picture of the person come into my head and stomach pain he must be doing for normal muggle voodoo!" I told them.  
  
They both looked confused. I closed my eyes and concentrated hard on picturing the map burn up. "Let's see if it worked." I said. "What work?" Michael asked. I walked out of the room and saw Hermione on the couch. I could tell she had cried. "I'm so sorry, Hermione. We had...ahem...private things to talk about. I'll tell you later, ok?" I said to her and hugged her. There was no feeling in my stomach and no pictures. The tutoring helped. I could do things if I concentrated hard on it.   
  
Hermione's P.O.V.  
  
Had he just hugged me? No groaning whatsoever. I embraced him tightly. "So...you're ok?" I asked. I could see him blushing a small bit but nodded. I grinned happily and made my way to my room, I was tired. It was also 10 p.m. "Good night." I said to them. They bid me good-bye.   
  
The next morning was a Saturday and I felt someone shaking me. It was Draco. "H-Hi." I said grogilliy, yet sort of surprised. "It's a Saturday." I remembered. "I know, but we're planning the Christmas Ball stuff. Come on." He told me. "Let me change." I said. He smiled and walked out. I slipped on a white tanktop and jeans. Who wants to wear robes on a Saturday anyway?  
  
I headed down to the common room and I saw Maelle on Michael's lap, his arms around her. I wish I had someone to do that with. Wait! get back to work...  
  
"Hi, Mione." Draco said. His feet were over the top of the couch and his head was hanging near the ground, basically what I'm saying is that he's lying upside down on the couch. "Hello...upside down boy." I said. "Oh. Right." He said to me and sat back up normally. I sat beside him and we started talking about stuff for the ball. We came up with great stuff.   
  
Maelle even insisted on making a dummy Santa and make him fly around the bewitched ceiling and we all laughed, except for Draco who didn't know who Santa was. I schooched closer to him, I was cold. Even though I was still a few inches away from him, I could feel his warmth. I inhaled happilly. "What're you doing, Hermione?" He asked me and I quickly gasped. "Oh, nothing." I said nervously.  
  
"Open up!!" I heard someone yell from the other side of the portrait. I smiled at Draco. It meant I was too comfortable to get up. Draco got up to answer but then I stopped him. "Are you really going to greet a guest in a green bathrobe that shows your chest?" I asked. Draco chuckled slightly. "I forgot. Michael, you go answer it." He said and headed to his room.  
  
Michael got up and opened the portrait. It was Crabbe. "Where is Draco?" I heard him ask. "He's changing." Michael replied. "Oh, ok. Tell him I stop-ed by." He said and left. Michael slammed the portrait closed and looked at us. "What an oaf." He said. We giggled and Draco came out, wearing a green woven sweatshirt with a silver snake on the front. He had black baggy jeans and he sat down back beside me, closer than before. I smelt his colone, it actually smelt nice.  
  
"Ok, have we gotten everything?" Draco asked an hour later. "Nope. We still have to discuss what food." I told him and he layed his head against the couch and stared at the ceiling. He groaned. "How about Mashed potatoes, candy canes for sweets, gatorade Ice blast for drinks and for dessert...parfaits for everyone?" He said, staring up at the ceiling. "Yum!" We all said. This time Maelle was writing so she jotted it down. "Hey, Draco? How do you know about Gatorade?" Hermione asked. "Ah...I dunno...mom took a muggle trip to London and brought me back some?" He said nervously, slightly chuckling.  
  
"Well, at least he's not THAT thick about the muggle world." I said. "NOW are we finsihed?" He asked. We chuckled. Draco made his way ro his room when we said yes. I whispered in his ear to meet me in my room and he made a sharp turn to my room."I'm going to go to my room. I have to get something." I said and went to my room.  
  
I found Draco standing, staring at some of my picures. "Hey." I said and he jumped and faced me. "Draco...what happened to you in your room? I know you were talking about me and that groaning came from pain. I want to know what happened...I'm not sure why and I think it's just...wierd, but I-I'm worried about you." I had to tell him, but I had no idea where this came from. This only happened during fourth year with Harry. When I kissed him on the cheek. No! This can't be the same thing! This is Malfoy! "Worried?" Draco asked me suspisiously.  
  
"Well...yes. Yes, I know we were enemies, but you're a person. I've said some bad stuff, but I've grown up. You're a person and I'm going to treat you like one, in this situation...yes. I'm worried. Just tell me what's wrong." I said. Draco nodded. "No. I-I can't. Hermione, it's too...personal." "A-are you worried?" I asked disbelievingly. Draco shook his head and cleared his throat. "No." "Ok..." I said.  
  
Draco's P.O.V.  
  
Ok, is she getting on to me? No...surely not. **Ok, so I was wrong about the feeling in your stomach...and the pictures in your head....but...you'll know when you start to have a crush on her...** My brain said. **I DON'T HAVE A CRUSH ON HER!!!** I yelled to my brain. "So...alright then." She said and made an attempt to leave but I grabbed her shoulder in an attempt to stop her. **See?** My brain said. "Yes?" She asked.  
  
Hermione's P.O.V.  
  
Why had he stopped me from leaving? But then, I looked into his eyes. I could tell. He was worried about me. But why? And what made him? "Ah..." He wasn't sure what to say. I could tell. He sighed. "No. Never mind." He told me. I continued to gaze into his eyes, his cold grey eyes looked different now. They were filled with worry, and then, after a few moments, they went nervous. "What?" He asked. I remembered that he could see me gaze upon him. "I was..." Now I was speechless.   
  
"I was..." I said again, now I was getting nervous. I looked into his eyes again and saw curiousness and something else, something I couldn't quite put my finger on. "Why are you staring at me?" He asked. I gasped quickly and quietly. "I...am...ach! I don't know!!" I said, lying down on my bed. "Wait! This is MY room. Shouldn't it be YOU who's leaving?" I asked, slightly laughing. "Oh. right." Draco said, also laughing. He then looked around my room and I saw his eyes stop in shock.   
  
"Hermione, what's that?" Draco asked, pointing to the collage I made of Harry. "Aah! Nothing!" I said, jumping off my bed and tearing the collage of my wall. "So fancy Harry?" He asked, a little victoriously, but somewhere, I could also hear...disappointment? No, surely not. "No!" I said quickly. "So...who DO you fancy?" He asked, smirking. "Like I'd tell you--ok, I dunno." I said, it was like a reflex!  
  
"You don't know?" Draco asked, chuckling. "Man, muggle-borns are wierd." He said. "What did you say?" I asked quickly. "Muggle-borns are wierd?" He repeated, lifting his eyebrow in confusion. "So...you've...worn out m-mud--m-mud-blood?" I asked. I saw Draco pale. "Didn't I-I SAY 'muggle-born' I mean 'mudblood?' " He asked. "Nooooo..."I said slowly.  
  
"Oh. I..gotta go." He said and ran out of my room. I layed back down onto my bed. What was happening? I was over Harry. I made sure of that, Ginny could have him. And Ron...well...he's the friend type. Draco? He-he's just a prefect...isn't he?  
  
Draco's P.O.V.  
  
I ran out of her room. What was happening? What was making me a softy? I wasn't sure. "Hey! Draco! Over here!" Michael yelled. "What?" I asked while walking over to them. "Shouldn't you be going to bed 'cause your tired?" He asked me. "Well, I'm not anymore. How's about we wait for Hermione and then go visit Dumbledore with our ideas?" I suggested. They both nodded. Finally, after about five minutes, Hermione came out of her bedroom with a notepad in her hand.  
  
"That was what took you so long to find?" Maelle asked, shocked. "Yup. Burried under all my clothes. So...what are we doing now?" She asked, starting to draw on her way over to us. "We're going to show Dumbledore what we've come up with the Christmas Ball." I explained. She shut her notepad. "Great! Let's go!" Hermione said entusiastucally. We all got up and talked happily on our way to his office. "Uh...Acid Lollipops." Maelle said and the statue jumped aside. We stepped onto the stairs and were greeted warmly by Dumbledore.  
  
"This is great!" He said happily when he read our scroll of ideas. "Well, Ms. Granger. That's a big part you have, singing a solo in front of the whole school, while they're dancing as well." He said, staring at her while grinning widely. "Well, all these ideas are great, and the ball will be in a week. Get to work. Oh! Here are a list of spells--" He tried to give us a scroll but Michael interrupted. "I'm sure Hermione knows all the spells for that, don't you?" Hermione nodded meakly. "Good. Well, the scroll is for the other prefects who DON'T know the spells." Dumbledore replied, giving the scroll to Michael.   
  
"Ok...I knew that." He said, chuckling nervously. We all started to decorate, locking the doors so no students could see it. "But wait, it's not until a week, right? They have to use it." I said, staring at all of them. "Easy. Transulebililty." She said, pointing her wand at a banner and it disappeared. "Appearo." She said again and it appeared. "O..k. Never mind, back to work." I said.  
  
Finally, after many long hours, we decided to call it a night. I walked into my room and changed into my pajamas.   
  
When I woke up the next morning, well, people woke me up. I heard yelling, angry yelling outside my door, it wasn't just three prefects...it was the whole school. 


	2. Chapter 2 How about no?

Christmas Ball  
  
Disclaimer doesn't own  
  
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Chapter 2- I'm sorry, no  
  
Draco's P.O.V.  
  
I slowly opened the door and heard the yelling getting louder as I approached the portrait. I opened it by the frame and then saw it wasn't the whole school, just a bunch of hyper Ravenclaws. Ok, the yells weren't angry...oh well. The house went silent as I opened the door. "Hey, where's Maelle?" One of the girls asked. "Uh...asleep." I replied, rubbing my left eye. "Oh." Another one said disappointedly. "Why are you asking for Maelle anyway?" I asked them again. "It's her birthday!!!" The whole school yelled happily. "What is going on?" Came a professor's voice from down the hall.  
  
All the ravenclaws turned around to see Professor McGonagall with a very stern look on her face. "Ravenclaws!! How DARE you disturb Draco at 6:30 in the morning! He needs all the rest he can get preparing for the Christmas Ball! It IS tomorrow." She said. "Get to bed, all of you! You can celebrate Ms. Lawone's (A/N: Maelle) birthday later, at lunch." She said. "How did you know about her birthday?" One of the sixth years asked. "Never mind that, go to bed! Scat!" Professor McGonagall demanded and they all started to leave.  
  
"I'm sorry, Mister Malfoy. Go back to sleep." She said, and with that I slammed the portrait closed, happy to get to sleep...but then? Oh, man! I'm not sleepy anymore!!  
  
Hermione's P.O.V.  
  
I heard pounding on something near the door as I slept but I guessed it was just something falling over in one of the bedrooms. But then, I kept tossing and turning, I couldn't sleep on account of the noise.  
  
After a few minutes, I heard a door creak and some indistenct talking. Then, I heard Professor McGonagall shout something that I also couldn't hear and then someone slam the portrait shut. Ok, something was going on and I wanted to know about it. I got up and then I saw the calender on my wall. Circled in red was the twenty-third, Maell's birthday. "Stupid Ravenclaws." I muttered and looked at the time. It was only 6:30! I looked at my calender again to see if there was something else I was missing. Oh, man! Tomorrow was the Christmas Ball! On Christmas Eve. I hadn't even got a date yet. Michael and Maelle were going together, Draco...I don't know, Harry's probably going with Ginny, Ron with Lavender...well, what about me?!  
  
I suppose I could get ready and head out for an early breakfast. Great. That meant robes. I put them on, which I didn't really want to and headed to the bathroom to brush my teeth. But when I opened the door I saw Draco putting on a bathrobe, facing the mirror. He splashed water on his face. "Um...Draco?" I asked and he quickly jumped. As he saw me, his face was expressionless. "You going to the dance with Potter?" He asked. "Uh..no." I said. "I thought he was going with Ginny." I said and he burst out laughing. "Weasley's WAY to protective of his little sister, especially of what happened with you and Potter in the past."   
  
I forced a laugh and kind of blushed. "What about you?" I said all of a sudden. "Why do you care?" He asked. "Well, why did you ask me if I was going with Harry?" I asked, a bit annoyed. " Draco turned around to face the mirror again and wiped off the little water droplets that were still on his face. "Draco, seriously, who are you going with?" I asked, almost demanding him to tell me.  
  
"Wow. You ARE bossy, Hermione. Ok...I'll tell you. Later." He said, leaving the washroom. I let out a low growl and stepped in to brush my teeth.   
  
After, I found Draco sitting on the couch, reading a book that was called "How to get a father out of your life." "This is useless, I'm not going to kill my dad in drastic ways." He said to himself and snapped the book shut. I cleared my throat and he quickly faced me. "Well, are you going to tell me now?" I asked. I knew it was only a few minutes since I asked, but I wanted to see who he was going with, if it was so funny, I would tell Harry and Ron, if not, hey, I'll still tell them.  
  
"Fine. If you'll sod off." He said. "Hey! Draco, remember? We had that talk about getting along as prefects?" I reminded him and he rolled his eyes. "I... do not have a date yet." He said. "W-wait!" I said in a quiet, yet shocked voice. "Don't you go with Pansy Parkison?" He just scoffed. "That pug-faced thing?! Yeah, sure! At the Yule Ball you could say I was forced to by my father, but he's not here this time. I think I'll just stay at the table and watch people dance and YOU sing." He said. I laughed. Wait. I better practice! After breakfast. "So...if you aren't going with Potter, who ARE you going to the dance with?" He asked.  
  
"Um...well, If Harry's free...no, no. That's Ginny's territory!" I said and notice him look at me, lifting his eyebrow in confusion. "Sorry, thinking aloud. Hehe. Yeah...I'm not going with anyone." I said. "Hey, Hermione?" He asked. "What?" "Uh, no. Nevermind." I shrugged and headed off to the kitchens. I was met by Dobby. He gave me some food and asked why I was down so early. I then told him kindly not to be too nosy. He nodded and left me to eat in peace.  
  
Ok, let me discuss this with my brain. I haven't got a date, Draco hasn't got a date, Harry.. SUPPOSEDLY doesn't have a date. But...Harry...hmm...no! Over Harry! Ginny can have him! Wait...Ron's too protective of his little sister going with Harry...what am I going to do? Bah, I'll just go alone, like Draco and sing my stupid solo. Well, who knows who'll ask me today, but people will probably already have dates. Anyway...who'd want to go with a 'mudblood'?  
  
Draco's P.O.V.  
  
Ok, so I HAD developed a crush. I knew that. I found myself finding her interesting, beautiful and I may even love her. I'm not sure. But wait. Hermione doesn't have a date...maybe I could ask her to the dance! But...what if she doesn't feel the same way? But how am I to get a date if I don't even ask? That's it. I'll ask.   
  
After about half-an-hour she came back through the portrait. "Hello Hermione." I said immediately and stood up. "Yes?" she asked, walking towards me. "Uh...well... ah--I--I...um..." I had to gather courage. "Spit it out." She said. I sighed. "I want to ask you if you would like to...go to the dance with me." I said, sweating lightly. It was then that I got my answer.  
  
A/N: SORRY!! I had to leave it here! Cliffhanger's are my favorite!! Haha! 


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